bush English · revision 4896

+ {{infobox|confidence=probable|formation=inherited|attested=c. 1250|origins=gmw-pro *busk}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * IPA: /bʊʃ/^(Roach et al. 2011)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[inh|enm|bussh]], busk, [[inh|ang|bysc|alt=busc]], found only in place-names,^(Etymonline)^(Barnhart 1988) from [[gmw-pro|*busk|t=bush, thicket]],^(Etymonline) the source also of Old High German busc, Dutch bos and German Busch.^(Etymonline)^(Barnhart 1988)^(MWU 2024) Old French busche “firewood” and Medieval Latin busca, themselves probably from Germanic, influenced it,^(Etymonline)^(Barnhart 1988) and the northern form busk may reflect Old Norse buski,^(Hoad 1986)^(Barnhart 1988) though the MED, quoted by Barnhart, derives busk from Anglo-Latin busca.^(Barnhart 1988) It is related to [[ambush]].^(Cresswell 2021)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ A shrub with close branches from the ground: about 1250 in the form busk, about 1315 as bush, in the OED;^(OED 1989) Chaucer has bussh before 1375.^(Barnhart 1988)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ A clump of shrubs used as a hiding place is from about 1330,^(OED 1989) and a thicket or bushy ground from 1523.^(OED 1989) To ''beat the bush'' (mid-15th century) was to rouse birds into nets, the origin of ''beat around the bush''.^(Etymonline)^(OED 1989) A branch hung out as a tavern sign is from the 1530s, hence ''good wine needs no bush''.^(Etymonline) In the American colonies the bush was the uncleared country from the 1650s,^(Etymonline)^(Barnhart 1988) and in South Africa the country as opposed to the town from 1780, probably from Dutch.^(Etymonline) The meaning “pubic hair” is from 1745.^(Etymonline) ''Bushed'', lost in the bush (1856), came to mean “exhausted” in American English by 1870.^(Barnhart 1988) The verb, to grow thick, is from about 1500.^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * c. 1250 – a shrub (busk).^(OED 1989)

+ * c. 1330 – a hiding place in shrubs.^(OED 1989)

+ * c. 1440 – ''beat the bush''.^(OED 1989)

+ * 1530s – a tavern sign.^(Etymonline)

+ * 1650s – uncleared country.^(Etymonline)

+ * 1780 – the country, in South Africa.^(Etymonline)

+ * 1870 – ''bushed'', exhausted.^(Barnhart 1988)

+

+ ==Modern meaning==

+ ===Noun===

+ # A woody plant with many [[branch]]es, smaller than a tree; a [[shrub]].^(AHD)^(Collins 2023)

+ # A thick growth of shrubs.^(AHD)^(Collins 2023)

+ # ''the bush'': wild land far from towns, especially in Australia or Africa.^(AHD)^(Collins 2023)

+ # A thick mass of hair.^(AHD)^(Collins 2023)

+

+ ===Verb===

+ # To grow thickly like a bush.^(AHD)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[bushless]]

+ * [[bushlike]]

+ * [[brittlebush]]

+ * [[bushbuck]]

+ * [[busher]]

+ * [[bushtit]]

+ * [[bushveld]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[ambush]]

+ * [[bouquet]]

+ * [[bushman]]

+ * [[bushel]]

+ * [[bosky]]

+

+ ==Usage notes==

+ A different bush, the metal lining of a hole such as the axle-hole of a wheel (also ''bushing''), is from Middle Dutch busse “box”, from Late Latin buxis;^(MWU 2024)^(Hoad 1986)^(OED 1989) MWU dates it to 1566.^(MWU 2024) In American slang ''bush'' is short for ''bush league'', minor or amateurish.^(MWU 2024)

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}